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It was unexpected seeing Valve announce hardware since they already said they're not going to get into the VR race, and their main VR-genius Michael Abrash already left to join Oculus. Anyway, more competition (and a release date) is only good news.

Ugh. Who started the trend for that god-awful style of web site? They're all damn-near unreadable. It's like ten screens of colours all hitting you in the face while not even displaying one screen's worth of content. Maybe it's a meta-comment on how unpleasant VR is going to turn out to be, or something. I barely know what the HTCVR is, and already I hate it.

You can put me in that file too. I'm still very skeptical that all this VR tech is going to go mainstream. I can't envision it being more that a nerdy toy for the diehardest of gamers. Sure, people will try it, and say "wow, that's cool!" but in the end they'll just go back to their tried and true way of playing games. Just like the wii or the Kinnect.

First and foremost, I don't think people will be comfortable being so shut off from the real world. One thing I've wondered, but how do you operate controls like keyboard/mouse/controller while gaming with the mask on? Strictly by feel, or is there some type of viewer at the bottom of the mask so you can see out? A little confused by that part.

Do you usually need to look at your keyboard or controller while playing games?

As for how mainstream it'll get, yeah I don't know. But as one of those nerdy shut-ins I don't really care either. I just want it to come out, be good, and popular enough that most devs will implement native support for it in their games.

I don't always look at my keyboard, but there are times when I need to. I'm guessing the answer for Oculus will be voice commands and specialized keyboards. Come to think of it, I should use more voice commands. It'd be kind of neat to just say "shoot rope arrow" or "blackjack this guy" and have it happen. But you'd have to whisper it...

You can put me in that file too. I'm still very skeptical that all this VR tech is going to go mainstream. I can't envision it being more that a nerdy toy for the diehardest of gamers. Sure, people will try it, and say "wow, that's cool!" but in the end they'll just go back to their tried and true way of playing games. Just like the wii or the Kinnect.

I think it's got a lot more buzz and a lot more actually-functional proof-of-concepts than Kinnect did. And Wii is doing just fine.

Actually I think Wii is an apt comparison. I think VR will be a new market along the current ones (consoles, mobiles, etc.) rather than taking over gaming as a whole. Immersing yourself in a VR world on the weekend is great, but sometimes you just want to sit on a couch with a few buds, controllers, and beers. The two fill very different cravings.

First and foremost, I don't think people will be comfortable being so shut off from the real world. One thing I've wondered, but how do you operate controls like keyboard/mouse/controller while gaming with the mask on?

Who said you're gonna be using mouse and keyboard? I think VR will require a specialized controller and we haven't quite invented a proper one yet. But it will come in due time, and joysticks can probably fill in in the meantime. Some form of glove that tracks movements of all your fingers would be awesome, especially as a design tool (modeling/sculpting).

As for being shut out - we just need WoW to be ported to first person and put on Occulus and you'll have the social isolation aspect covered.

It's probably already been discussed here somewhere, but VR is good for certain types of games, from what I've read especially "cockpit" kinds of games -- racing sims, flying sims, mech games -- where being able to freely look helps a lot, and the direct environment around the player (the cockpit) isn't moving relative to the player, although the player is still moving. It sounded like it was useful for the same kinds of games IR-head tracking is useful. So I imagine it as fitting that niche market.

But if it gets mainstreamed, I can imagine a new genre of FPS that's tailored to it (or some tinkering with the current status quo formulas), and it being fit for that niche as well. I tend to think FPSs as they typically are now aren't the best fits, and some tinkering needs to be done, but if it is done, I don't underestimate how well it might work.

It's probably already been discussed here somewhere, but VR is good for certain types of games, from what I've read especially "cockpit" kinds of games -- racing sims, flying sims, mech games

The ironic thing is that those are the types of games that often have a tons of keyboard commands. From a controls perspective, I would think simpler games would be better, maybe a situation where you only need a single controller in your hand.

The ironic thing is that those are the types of games that often have a tons of keyboard commands. From a controls perspective, I would think simpler games would be better, maybe a situation where you only need a single controller in your hand.

Except, what if instead of pressing keyboard commands you'd just press the keys in the cockpit? Virtual hand mapped to your real hand, mmm! Lack of feedback would be a bit weird but maybe something you can get used to?

Except, what if instead of pressing keyboard commands you'd just press the keys in the cockpit? Virtual hand mapped to your real hand, mmm! Lack of feedback would be a bit weird but maybe something you can get used to?

A more advance version of the Power Glove could be part of that, with some sort of rumble effect built into various parts. Could be used to provide feedback on touching/activating something.

I'm reminded of a few years ago when everyone and their dog was pushing 3D TVs because it was the next big thing.

I'd say if something is a bigger barrier to enjoying entertainment than just turning on a screen, it'll always remain in the realms of a gimmick. Then again, I'm often wrong about technology. I said ipads wouldn't catch on because they fill a niche that doesn't exist, but apparently everyone in the world disagreed. I still can't see what purpose they serve that isn't covered by other products.

I think 3D TVs didn't catch on simply because they weren't that good. As for extra effort required with VR, it's so minimal as to be negligible. It's like putting on a helmet, or a bulky pair of ski-glasses. You'll have it done long before the game is done loading.

RE:Morpheus. Good looking specs. Tho even as a PS4 owner I can't get that excited about VR on a console. The openness and possibility of experimentation on PC makes it a much more appealing platform for it. Oculus Rift support is already easy to implement in Unity and UE4, so regular people can get their wild VR ideas out there relatively easily. PS4's VR meanwhile will likely be a highly curated selection of things that run well on it and won't make anyone nauseous.

Originally Posted by Yakoob

Except, what if instead of pressing keyboard commands you'd just press the keys in the cockpit?

Indeed. Lunar Flight VR did this and it worked great. Tons of buttons in the cockpit, interacted with simply by looking at them and pressing the use-button on the gamepad. Then again that's a quite slow-paced game, for anything more intense having to take your eyes of the road/target might be a problem.

I think there's a distinct difference between 3D TV and VR; the former is basically 'just TV' plus a 3D effect, whereas the latter puts you inside a 3D environment that you can experience, at least in terms of visuals and sounds, like you experience the real world. It's not just something you look at.

That's also why I think that some people are barking up the wrong tree with respect to what VR might mean for the industry: even if this current wave of VR devices takes off, it will neither replace sitting at your desk and playing games looking at a screen nor sitting on the couch (with or without friends) playing games on the TV across the board. VR will work best for certain kinds of games, not for all. It'll be much better suited to slower, more considerate and less twitchy games such as simulations, and for immersive first-person games; it's unlikely there'll ever be a big market for virtual-reality jump'n'runs or third-person/top-down RPGs. From everything I've heard and read, it's games like Alien: Isolation, Elite: Dangerous and Euro Truck Simulator 2: No Colon that work best with the Oculus Rift dev kit.

Oh, and as far as the iPad is concerned, ever since I got one I very much prefer it to other portable solutions such as laptops, at least for surfing, watching videos and the like. It's just so much more portable. Even for work trips, I prefer the tablet, as long as I know I won't have to do tons of typing - but even there, an iPad with a cover/keyboard hybrid has served me lots better than the laptops I'd lug around on business trips.

Except, what if instead of pressing keyboard commands you'd just press the keys in the cockpit? Virtual hand mapped to your real hand, mmm! Lack of feedback would be a bit weird but maybe something you can get used to?

This suggestion is so insanely stupid for all but the most glacially-paced games that only this image can properly sum up how supremely ill-conceived an idea it is.

I'm a big fan of the DCS aircraft with fully clickable (actually closer to 95% clickable) cockpits, but any kind of in-game hand control would have to be ridiculously accurate. It's easy with a mouse controlled cursor when clicking affects the switch at any range, but add in that some are knobs that need turning, levers, press and hold buttons, some switches have guards that need lifting before the switch can be flicked, etc. It sounds like a controllable hand would be hard to implement and hard to get used to, but it's early days for this kind of stuff so I can't really judge. The Mi-8 also has a huge grid of circuit breakers on the overhead panel that can be clicked en masse with numpad combos. I wouldn't like to do them all individually, and I guess real pilots curl an index finger and just snap them all up.

I think it was more than the price barrier for entry was initially way too high, and there was a lot of compatibility confusion (active glasses cost between 100-200 dollars, 3DTVs didn't come with glasses, glasses would only work with their manufacturers TVs, so if you by some miracle had a friend who had a Sony 3DTV and you had a Samsung you couldn't bring your glasses to their house or vice versa to watch 3D movies. Once passive 3D TVs became a thing the visual fidelity wasn't up to snuff, either) and it was immediately on the heels of everybody just having bought HD TVs, so not very many people were willing to upgrade again so soon. It probably would've done better if the manufacturers had worked together to standardize the viewing experience instead of just the encoding.

VR might run into the standardization problem, but Valve seems to be trying to fight that by making the SteamVR APIs open, and they're giving away the Lighthouse tracking tech. So unless Oculus does something stupid like intentionally breaking compatibility with SteamVR because they have their own APIs that they like better, we're probably going to be okay, at least as far as PC driven VR. Morpheus and the Galaxy Gear are their own things. And now Google looks like they might be trying to move in, too.

Just arrived. Will try it out tonight and tomorrow before I have to bring it back to work on Monday. Gonna try out Assetto Corsa with it, and see if any cool new demos have show up in the past few months. And I'll revisit Lunar Flight VR of course!

Very nice! Have you got Elite: Dangerous? And are you travelling towards Switzerland any time soon? :-D

On a related note, I'm curious to see how the Battle of the VR Goggles will play out. The Valve one sounds amazing, but it also sounds like it's optimised for 'stand up and walk around VR', which most people won't be able to do, I'd imagine.